No. of Recommendations: 15
Al is 100% correct. Presidents don't just get to override the Constitution.
Yes. Like they don’t get to get the US involved in a foreign war without a declaration of war from Congress. Except Vietnam, I guess. And Afghanistan. And Yemen. And …
Or stop white people from consorting with native Americans, as the Supreme Court famously found leading to the meme “The Supreme Court has made their decision, now let them enforce it.” (Not really what Jackson said, but close enough for the internet.)
Unilaterally suspending Habius Corpus, as Lincoln famously did during the Civil War.
Roosevelt gave himself the power to censor the mail, expand Federal agencies, and opened confidential census information (leading to the Japanese internment) all without enabling legislation or opinion on the Constitutionality of such. Was the imprisonment of American citizens on the basis of race Constitutional? I guess so.
The Executive detainment of people at Gitmo for 20 years certainly flies in the face of the Constitution, but I guess it must be OK, yes?
FDR also outlawed the private ownership of gold. Where is that in the Constitution?
There’s more, lots more. The Muslim travel ban. Obama pushed the envelope in getting parts of Obamacare through. Reagan engaged in lots of extra-constitutional acts, from trading arms for hostages to sending troops into foreign countries without Congressional approval.
But, hey, nothing to worry about. Trump seems quite moderate about all this, right?
